Foaming at the Mouth, State Rep. Steve Nass Spews: “…liberals…socialists…comrades…economic tyranny!”

State Rep. Steve Nass is one of the most outspoken partisan extremists of the new radicalized Republican Party nation wide. In a recent press release Rep. Nass rabidly rants about how much he hates, truly loathes, the opposing viewpoints of lawmakers elected to carry out the duty of their more liberal constituents. It would appear only Republican voters and their representatives are qualified to make all of our political decisions for us. It’s hard to imagine the following coming from a public official elected to write and pass laws meant to help all the people. I’m not making it up:

Nass: Doyle brutally assaults the people that create good paying jobs. “Governor Doyle has caved in to the Madison liberals and socialists that despise businesses … From this day forward, almost every person that loses a job in Wisconsin can directly blame Governor Doyle and his comrades in the legislature.”

Comrades, socialists and “Madison liberals?” All this from Nass, a true believer in Fascism (Fascism is strongly associated with right-wing fanaticism, racism, totalitarianism, and violence-Encarta). So Doyle is responsible for all the job losses? That might be believed if we were hypnotized into forgetting who created the national recession and global economic crisis causing corporate closures and layoffs? Was it Gov. Doyle or the Republican Congress and Bush presidency? Nass wants you to think it was Doyle. And like all state Republicans, he also wants to make sure the rest of the country knows just how bad Wisconsin is for business. Hey nation, listen to this…:

Nass noted that Wisconsin was already one of the worst places in the country to start, own or expand a business.

Can you see the bumper sticker now?

"Doyle’s … budget, if passed as proposed, will guarantee that the only jobs being created will be low-wage service sector employment or public sector jobs financed by even higher taxes."

Actually, free market capitalism, union busting and outsourcing has shifted good paying jobs to countries with cheap labor. Nice try Nass.

“The new budget proposal and other ideas … prove that Wisconsin Democrats have adopted a liberal to socialist economic agenda. The taxpayers of Wisconsin will soon feel the economic tyranny that liberals in Madison have planned for them.”

Democrats are so "tyranical."

Nass also raised concerns … “Until the Republicans in the legislature admit their own past mistakes in raising taxes and supporting pork-barrel spending, it will be impossible for us to offer real policy alternatives that the people can trust. It’s all about trust and legislative Republicans must stop faking our fiscal conservatism and actually live it.”

I think Nass is onto to something here. If Nass and his fellow right wing reactionaries turned down state funding and the soon to be spent stimulus money for their districts, we might see how representative they really are to the demands of "the voting public."

My guess is, they won’t be to happy.

Republicans Seemed to Have Forgotten Their Past 8 Year Mantra: "Deficits Don't Matter."

Ann Pettifor, the author of “Debtonation - The Coming First World Debt Crisis,” wrote this simple reminder about the last eight irresponsible years and bottom up stimulus.

These points are truly rich coming from the Republicans. Readers no doubt know that during the Bush-Cheney years the US national debt doubled from $5,700bn in 2001 to $10,700bn today. Others may recollect that Mr. Cheney said in 2001: "Reagan proved that deficits don't matter."So let's not hear any more from Republicans about deficits mattering or about 'generational theft.'

And on “bottom up” economics, pushed by the Democrats:

The workers get pay checks. They use the income to pay taxes - direct to the US government. So immediately the government can use these tax revenues to fix the budget. Then workers purchase goods and services - boosting the economy. Companies hire more workers to deal with demand for materials from stimulus sponsored programs. More employed workers equals more taxpayers.

Ever-rising tax revenues drop into the Treasury's coffers.

And yet Republicans have made it “complicated” for a reason. Besides defending a failed economic theory, they like to sound like they know what they are talking about.

Under GOP Litmus Test, Sarah Palin Unqualified to take Government Job: Didn’t Pay Taxes.

The Washington Post reported “Alaska Says Palin Owes Tax on Expense Payments,” which for me means she is now disqualified from taking any future government post.

Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin (R) owes income taxes on thousands of dollars she received as expense money while living in her own home, the Anchorage Daily News reported today. Palin received $16,951 in per diem payments. Palin's office would not say how much she owes in back taxes, or whether she intends to continue to seek the per diem allowance. As of December, she was still asking the state for the payments, the Daily News reported.

"The amount of taxes owed is a private matter," Sharon Leighow, Palin's spokeswoman, said in an e-mail to the Daily News. "If the governor collects future per diem, those documents would be a matter of public record."

To paraphrase Congressional Republicans: “If a person can’t find away to pay what they owe in taxes, they don’t belong in government.”

Another Subtle Rupert Murdock Shot at Obama in the New York Post

As unbelievable as it may seem, this not so innocent cartoon in the NY Post is unmistakable in its meaning. What do you think? Here are a few details.

NY Daily News:

Gov. David Paterson this morning joined the Rev. Al Sharpton in seeking an "explanation" from the Post in connection with today's editorial cartoon.

Al Sharpton made this point: "Being that the stimulus bill has been the first legislative victory of President Barack Obama (the first African American president) and has become synonymous with him it is not a reach to wonder are they inferring that a monkey wrote the last bill?" "Given that the New York Post cartoonist came under heavy fire in the past for racially tinged cartoons including the infamous cartoons depicting 2001 mayoral candidate Freddy Ferrer and me in very unflattering ways that were used as a divisive campaign tactic, one cannot ignore their history when one finds out what they could possibly mean by this morning's cartoon."

AP:

The cartoon in Wednesday's Post by Sean Delonas shows a dead chimp and two police officers, one with a smoking gun. The caption reads, "They'll have to find someone else to write the next stimulus bill." The cartoon refers to Travis the chimp, who was shot to death by police in Stamford, Conn., on Monday after it mauled a friend of its owner. It links the chimp to Obama, who signed his administration's economic stimulus plan on Tuesday.

Boston Globe:

The Post is standing by the cartoon, and questioning Sharpton's motives."The cartoon is a clear parody of a current news event, to wit the shooting of a violent chimpanzee in Connecticut," editor-in-chief Col Allan said in a statement. "It broadly mocks Washington's efforts to revive the economy. Again, Al Sharpton reveals himself as nothing more than a publicity opportunist."

Yes, we're all seeking more publicity, aren't we?

59% Want Government Health Insurance, Up from 28% in 1979.

Republicans seem to be the only ones missing the change in public opinion over who should provide health care. Why is that? It couldn’t be blind ideology?

AMERICAN PUBLIC OPINION: TODAY VS. 30 YEARS AGO January 11-15, 2009 CBS/NYT

HEALTH INSURANCE: PRIVATE ENTERPRISE VS. GOVERNMENT? Americans are more likely today to embrace the idea of the government providing health insurance than they were 30 years ago. 59% say the government should provide national health insurance.

In 1979: 48% preferred private enterprise, 28% government covering all problems and 12% wanting government to cover only emergencies.

Now, people have completely reversed their opinion: 49% prefer government insurance, 10% think government should only cover emergencies and 32% are putting their faith in private enterprise.


NEWSPAPER DEATH KNELL?

It’s not looking good for the old hand held version of the news, newspapers: Most Americans (60%) say they get most of their news from television, with newspapers a distant second (14%), followed closely by the internet (13%), and radio (7%). Thirty years ago, a Los Angeles Times Poll found Americans were equally as likely to get most of their news from newspapers (42%), television (41%).

Zain Verjee and those Nutty Penises

Zain Verjee, the news anchor for The Situation Room with Wolf Blitzer, had one thing on her mind, and it wasn't peanuts. Apparently, Northwest Airlines are now serving penises. That should improve satisfaction levels for male fliers.

Colbert's Black Visa Card, Laura Ingraham, Fashionable Obama Nails and Ben & Jerry's Bush Names for Ice Cream

Here are some odds and ends that just didn't fit anywhere else. Fun stuff.

JD Hayworth Is Back, Longing for a Continuation of the Last Eight Years of Tax Cuts and Deregulation

I am basking in the wonder of all the media hosts and reporters who are finally blaming the Republican Congress and President Bush for the last eight years of trickle down, voodoo laissez faire capitalism. Confronting these global disaster deniers pretty much leaves them speechless, unless of course they're still clinging to a their failed ideology. JD still is.

Chris Matthews asked JD whether he would continue to support and expand the same policies that brought us to this point. Hayworth gave Matthews an emphatic yes, FOUR TIMES during the conversation. He also blamed right wing bogey man, George Soros, who seems to have the omnipresence of God.

HAYWORTH: I’ll tell you what was bad, the sneak attack on our economy, the dress rehearsal that was the debacle of IndyBank, when Chuck Schumer helped get that started. The guy in the background, George Soros, manipulating all the currency.



The Washington Independent put it this way:

Matthews is clearly stunned at what he’s hearing: “You can talk fast, but I don’t know what you’re talking about.” But Hayworth got to Congress after a career in talk radio, and he returned to talk radio after losing in a 2006 upset to his then-Democratic challenger, Rep. Harry Mitchell. In that format, conspiracy theories about George Soros are about as normal as ads for reverse mortgages and natural male enhancement.

Glenn Becks Eyes

Having been in the radio business for 28 years, and a host of a cable access channel for 4 years (does that negatively impact my experience?), guys like Glenn Beck were the station jerks, and deserve what Stephen Colbert dished out the other night.

As imaginative and bizarre as the "eye close-up" was during Beck's Fox News show, it was hardly network quality stuff. Colbert agrees.

RNC Chairman Michael Steele: '..just any black guy?"

Saturday Night Live's Seth Meyers described the choice of RNC Chairman Michael Steele so perfectly, I had to include it here. Is there anything the Republican do that isn't calculated and contrived?

Will Bunch on Reagan Myth. A Marketing Success Story!

Finally exploding the Ronald Reagan myth of tax cuts and smaller government, author of "Tear Down this Myth," Will Bunch details on the Rachel Maddow Show how marketing recreated the man Republicans now praise as their hero and ideological guru. The question is, why is it taking so long to expose the truth?

Survey Shocker: Wisconsin CEO's Want Bigger Tax Cuts, Oppose Stimulus!!

Here’s an interesting but not too surprising poll number, showing a majority of wealthy CEO’s disapprove of the Democratic stimulus plan. Apparently:

More than half of northeastern Wisconsin chief executives surveyed about the federal government's economic stimulus plan say they are opposed to it. The Nicolet National Bank Business Pulse survey of 160 CEOs found that 57% were opposed to the plan, 23% favored it and 20% weren't sure. "I think it pretty much says the CEOs wanted to see a little bigger shift to the tax-cut side," said David Wegge, president of Intellectual Marketing, Green Bay, which conducted the survey. Wegge concluded that the CEO attitudes about the stimulus package seem to mirror concerns that Republicans in the House and Senate expressed about it as it was being crafted.

What can one conclude from this survey? The Republicans support the idea that high wage CEO’s should keep more of their money at the expense of putting everyone else back to work and growing the middle class, and these fats cats couldn't agree more.

Republican Gubenatorial Hopefull Scott Walker Wants Stimulus Money Poured into Sales Tax Holiday Hole, Screws Job Creation.

Milwaukee County Executive Scott (wacky) Walker (R) showed us today just how bad he is at economics. He wants to take the federal stimulus money and convert it into rebates and a sales tax holiday. Lets break it down quickly. How successful are rebates? According to the San Jose Mercury News:

The Recovery Rebate Credit, part of the economic stimulus package that was passed by Congress in 2008 … (was to) put more money into the hands of consumers, they would start spending again and help spur more economic activity. But the effect was short-lived. Consumers started pulling back even further, hit by rising prices, falling home values, deepening unemployment and tight credit. And that spelled doom for the economy, since consumer spending is its lifeblood.

What about sales tax holidays? Maintoday.com explains:

Sales-tax holidays are just gimmicks that will merely shift taxes onto property owners and workers. Christopher St. John, executive director of the Maine Center for Economic Policy, a liberal think tank in Augusta that focuses on state economic policies, said people generally favor raising the sales tax over other forms of taxation, because they have some control over it. "The way people feel about sales taxes is that they have choice. It only applies if they buy the item, whereas income and property taxes, you have no choice," he said. St. John said Mainers would rather get a break on their property taxes or income taxes than on the sales tax.

Now that you have a little background information, let’s take a look at Scott (wacky) Walker’s plans to take this one time stimulus money and dump it into a one time sales tax holiday hole. Remember, this guy wants to be governor.

Journal Sentinel: Milwaukee County Executive Scott (wacky) Walker wants the state to use most of its share of federal stimulus money for: a state sales tax holiday … property tax rebates and new business tax breaks … (Wacky) Walker said $3.2 billion of the stimulus aid should be used to offset the state's 5% sales tax starting March 1 through the end of the year. That would translate into some $3,000 in saving for the average family … The sales tax hiatus could prove to be a bonanza for Wisconsin merchants if residents from neighboring states flocked to Wisconsin for purchases of cars, appliances and other big-ticket items, he said … Walker … announced his Republican bid for the 2010 governor's race.

Walker's latest move … and dovetails with his controversial stance to refrain from asking for federal stimulus funding for county projects. Critics, including some business community allies, said Walker's refusal to ask for federal aid for local projects was a mistake … Walker’s "blueprint for economic prosperity" (would redirect) $512 million in federal stimulus aid for various county projects to be used instead for suspending the county 0.5% sales tax the rest of the year, rebating the $250 million in county property taxes paid this year. The property tax rebate would come to $652 for the owner of a $150,000 home in Milwaukee.

In the real world, where jobs need to be created, green energy implemented to lower rising government costs and infrastructure rebuilding, Gov. Doyle is taking a more practical and responsible path-minus gimics:

Doyle has said that nearly $2 billion would be used to help offset the state's budget deficit … $550 million would go for road and bridge projects, $150 million for weatherization programs and other funds for sewer and water projects.

So who would you trust to put people back to work, and plan for the future; Scott Walker or Gov. Doyle? But wait, an even better response is delivered by Democratic Party of Wisconsin Chair Joe Wineke:

“It is pathetic that Scott Walker decided to use his state of the county address as a platform to launch his campaign for governor. It is even more pathetic that he had to use fuzzy math and impossible gimmicks like state sales tax holidays to distract from his countless failures as county executive. “

As Walker has already acknowledged, redirecting federal stimulus money towards a sales tax holiday would be impossible under the law. Furthermore, Walker’s crazy claim that the sales tax holiday would translate into $3,000 in savings for the average family assumes that each household will go out and spend $60,000 on taxable goods. What ‘average’ family has that kind of disposable income? “Walker’s county tax holidays are based on the assumption that Milwaukee County might get as much as $500 million or more in federal stimulus aid, which is ridiculous considering that Walker has already said ‘no thanks’ to the federal stimulus funding.

Walker has a history that should scare any voting citizen, and should be a real test to see how many are swayed by the gimmicks and short sighted planning that brought our economy to a state of crisis.

Rep. Jeff Fitzgerald Accuses Governor of "Grabbing" and "Skimming" Money to Pay for State Government. Spending Tax Money now a Criminal Activity.

Wisconsin Gov. Jim Doyle met a lot of Republican resistance to a proposed increase in the states hospital tax, which would in turn increase federal funding negating the tax impact, because many GOP freeloaders have pledged never to increase taxes while in public office. Not only that, they are always comparing government to a family budget, where mom and dad sit down and cut back on groceries, vacations and heat. But that's only part of what families do. They also get a second or third job to increase their budgets so they can pay their bills. On the down side, some end up going bankrupt and giving up their homes. States can't sell themselves off to their nearest neighbor, but they can increase their budgets by increasing their incomes via taxes. But not Republicans.

They hate taxes. Freeloading and doing very little work, while never having to make tough decisions in office, is so much easier.

Gov. Doyle is accused of "grabbing money from Washington D.C.," and "skimming money off of it each time." Wow, what a crook, huh? It's just a tax increase, but to hear the Republican take on it, it's criminal Mafioso stuff. And that's why Rep. Jeff Fitzgerald is in the minority, because he's makes lousy business decisions and analogies.

Rep. Eric Cantor, Manager of the Assh**e Store

Comedian Lewis Black put House Minority Whip Eric Cantor in the proper frame the other night on the Daily Show.

Republicans Betting Against American, via Stimulus NO vote

Two clips: Sen. Robert Menendez of NJ. commmenting on the Republicans "betting against an economic recovery, betting against the American people..."

And we have Rep. Chris Van Hollen comparing the time when Bush asked Republicans to bailout Wall Street, they "turned on a dime," "but when President Obama has come up and said we need 800 billion dollars for the American people, and turn the economy around, you've got them dragging their feet..."

I love the truth.

Defanged Stimulus Intentionally Watered down to Lessen Impact of Recovery for Republican Mid- Term Elections

The Financial Times honestly evaluated the final stimulus bill and came to these conclusions; the AMT fix for higher incomes watered down the aid to states limiting recovery and short term benefits, and will be nearly invisible to Americans for the first two years. That will benefit Republicans who will claim the stimulus didn’t work and any improvement was part of the normal business cycle. Here are the details:

Stimulus bill marked by political gesturing

The stimulus bill … is expected to be voted on on Friday, has been altered in shape and size during three weeks of being kicked around Capitol Hill. What has emerged, some economists say, bears the marks of political gesturing as much as boosting the economy.

Not only were Senate moderates in effect allowed to dictate a ceiling for the programm of $800 billion, but nearly 10 per cent of the package was given over to the latest of a series of temporary fixes to the perennial alternative minimum tax problem. The AMT, a tax originally aimed at the super-rich, has gradually come to threaten upper-middle-income households. “The AMT fix had nothing to do with stimulus,” says Dean Baker of the left- leaning Center for Economic and Policy
Research.

To pay for items such as the AMT, the Democrats had to accept cuts to their priorities, including aid to bail out cash-strapped states and tax reductions for lower-income families, both of which were likely to stimulate the economy more quickly … this appeared to be a deliberate political manoeuvre by the Republicans. The cuts in aid to states … will not only affect the US’s infrastructure through constraining spending on school construction but also reduce the short-term stimulus in the bill.

Macroeconomic Advisers, an economic consultancy, says that such aid can affect the spending decisions of state and local governments even before they receive the money. “For example, they may opt to forgo laying off workers, cutting purchases, or raising taxes, even before the funds may be in their hands,” the firm says. What remains … is still reckoned by most economists to promise a material effect on the
economy. The bipartisan Congressional Budget Office predicted that an average of
the House and Senate bills would reduce the unemployment rate to between 6.8 8.1 per cent next year, against 8.7 per cent without the stimulus, and increase
gross domestic product by 1.1-3.3 per cent next year. But if the package fails to revive the US economy, Democrats as well as Republicans will have an excuse: that what finally emerged, thanks to political manoeuvring on Capitol Hill, is
smaller and focused on different things than the bill Mr Obama envisaged

'Impact of US plan will be felt slowly

Few economists think its impact will be felt any time soon by average voters. The real impact may be invisible to the naked eye. “You won’t open your door or unseal your latest pay cheque and find that everything’s going to be different,” says Mark Zandi, chief economist of economy.com. “But if people feel the stimulus is going to have a broader effect on the larger economy, it may boost their confidence as consumers.”

Perhaps the most tangible impact will be on people’s withholding taxes … a minor increase in their take-home pay – $32 per two-weekly pay check for a middle class household and $16 for an individual. It will appear small. But that is deliberate. “If you give people the tax cuts in one lump sum, people are far likelier to save it – which is not what you want,” says Tom Gallagher, a Washington analyst.

The impact on jobs will be less easy to measure. Barack Obama has said the bill will create or save 3m jobs over the next three years. He might meet a larger part of that pledge from jobs that are saved. For example, most state governments have been preparing to lay off employees since they are obliged to balance their budgets. “In general, I don’t think people will ‘feel’ the effect of the state/local government subsidies,” says Chris Edwards, an economist at the libertarian Cato Institute. “It will just mean that state/local governments won’t have to restrain themselves as they would otherwise have had to.”

Exceptions could be found in the construction industry, which has suffered the biggest layoffs in the past 14 months and could see a rapid uptick from the infrastructure spending in the bill. Laid off construction workers in the capital are likely to be particularly lucky; Mr Obama plans to spend $6.5bn making federal buildings energy efficient. As for infrastructure, most of the short-term spending will be on repairs of roads and bridges. Here most Americans will see a tangible result – longer traffic jams.

Note to Republicans: This is What You Have done to the American Psyche. The Devastating Affects of Economic Collapse

1. Recession leaves many in employment limbo. Many workers who still have a job fear the ax may fall at any time

2. It can often take months for companies to complete a massive layoff, leading to a nerve-racking period in which workers are left to wonder whether they will be targeted, and anxious to defend their position.

3. “The condition of uncertainty is sometimes actually worse than actually knowing that you’re going to get laid off,” said Leon Grunberg, a professor of comparative sociology at the University of Puget Sound in Tacoma, Wash., who has studied downsizing extensively. His research showed that people who were fearful of losing their jobs but hadn’t lost them yet were more likely to suffer symptoms of poor health, such as headaches, indigestion and sleep disorders.

4. The widespread fear of layoffs, combined with an absence of any concrete information, also can have a deep impact on both morale and productivity, as workers find it hard to keep their minds on their jobs amid rumors about who could be next and anxiety over what will happen if they are the ones to get the pink slip.

5. Jackie Hopkins has watched as some of her co-workers have been let go. And every payday, she’s wondered if she will be next. The couple lost their home of five years to foreclosure and are currently renting a trailer. The situation has left her riddled with anxiety, worried about doing her best at work and consumed at home with looking at job sites and wondering how she will pay her bills and keep food on the table. “This is something that consumes my whole life,” she said. “It’s all I think about.”

6. Tricia Henington has worked as a school nurse in Idaho since 1992, doing everything from helping students with insulin shots to administering feeding tubes. Now, with the state facing a budget crunch, she’s worried that her job may be on the chopping block. Henington worries that if she loses her job she’ll have to go back to school to update her skills for other nursing work. At 52, she doesn’t relish the thought of retraining for a new job when she had hoped to retire in her current one.

source: MSNBC

Damn, aren’t we a nation of whiners?

A Renascence of Small Business Development Impossible without Universal Health Care

Wisconsin Public Television's "Here and Now" featured guest Christina Tromboley, from the UW-Green Bay's Small Business Development Center, who offered this common sense approach to encouraging entrepreneurs. Health care is becoming an impediment to creating more small businesses. The flat out opposition to universal health care by Republicans discourages development of new businesses, possible up and coming competitors, while strengthening corporate power.

But they say they're the friends of small businesses?

Rep. Jack Kingston Warns Stimulus Plan will Gainfully Employe Well Dressed Rats in San Francisco, Lunch In Sausalito.

How crazy are the Republicans in Congress? They are crazy loco enough to claim San Francisco rats will be receiving $30 million in stimulus money so they can get employment, dress well, wear flip flops and sun glasses so they can go to Sausalito for lunch. God I wish I were kidding.

Rep. Jack Kingston appears to have watched too many singing animal cartoons when he was young. I always thought that critter animation would someday come back to haunt us.